“This was new territory for me, and it was pretty confusing,” Love wrote. “But I was certain about one thing: I couldn’t bury what had happened and try to move forward. As much as part of me wanted to, I couldn’t allow myself to dismiss the panic attack and everything underneath it. I didn’t want to have to deal with everything sometime in the future, when it might be worse. I knew that much. So I did one seemingly little thing that turned out to be a big thing. The Cavs helped me find a therapist, and I set up an appointment.”

“This just one more example of the willingness to kind of go above and beyond and say not only am I going to work on my physical engine, I’m going to work on my mental one as well,” said Dr. Erin Ayala, Premier Sport Psychology, PLLC.

Dr. Erin Ayala affirms Love’s show of strength was a risk, but one that inspires change in the way we all frame mental illness.

“Athletes in general are taught to step outside of their comfort zone in order to get better and reach their peak performance and this is another act of doing that,” said Ayala.

Love’s allowing himself to be vulnerable is a source of inspiration to many. Not even 24 hours after he shared the essay on his Twitter page, the article had been retweeted more than 33,000 times and liked more than 80,000 times.

“I want to make it clear that I don’t have things figured out about all of this,” Love wrote. “I’m just starting to do the hard work of getting to know myself. For 29 years, I avoided that. Now, I’m trying to be truthful with myself. I’m trying to be good to the people in my life. I’m trying to face the uncomfortable stuff in life while also enjoying, and being grateful for, the good stuff. I’m trying to embrace it all, the good, bad and ugly.”